The Einsatzgruppen Trial: The Biggest Murder Trial in History

Following the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945, the United States conducted twelve additional trials against other significant members of the Nazi regime. One of these trials involved 24 defendants of the notorious mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) for their role in murdering Jews, Communists, and countless others during Nazi Germany’s campaign against the Soviet Union. John Geiringer, a partner at Barack Ferrazzano law firm and a Co-Director of the Center for National Security and Human Rights Law at Chicago-Kent School of Law, joined us to deliver a compelling account of how the prosecution and defense responded to the challenge of prosecuting mass murder in a world where the concept of “genocide” was still in flux. He also examined the men who perpetrated some of the most brutal crimes of the Holocaust, and explore lessons we can learn from the Trials today.